New
#101
I'm logging off for now, will have another look see tomorrow.
If you join the insider program and upgrade from 10240 you will get an expiry. If you leave it and stay on 10240 you will be permanently activated.
You want to look at slmgr /dlv not slmgr /xpr as xpr will not tell you the expiry. 10525 and 10532 both expire July 15 2016. I don't know what happens if you go back from 10525 to 10240 if it becomes permanent again - I've not tried.
My insider program machine running 10532 is permanently activated.
Are you guys talking about a machine that was upgraded from 7 or 8 etc to 10 buiild 10240, then you joined the insider program and upgraded to the a newer build and now it has an expiration date ?
Why would someone do that ?
That isn't a retail key. That is an OEM key which can only be used to install the OEM version of the operating system it is for.
Interesting. Mine says exactly the same thing. Also, winver says Evaluation copy, Expires 7/15/2016 4:59PM.
Hmm.... I'm tempted on doing some time travel with my system date to see what happens.
OK. I'm back from the future. Changed bios to 2017. Tried to start into 10532 and it immediately went to startup repair and said that files in the operating system were expired and gave me options to reinstall from an install media, F8 for startup options (which didn't seem to work), and F9 to boot into another OS which took me back to my dual boot screen.
Changed bios back to 2015, and here I am back on 10532 with no issues. So, it seems like activation and evaluation expiration are two different things. Now, to go to my 10240 build and see what winver and /dlv say about expiration.
Back again on 10240. WINVER and /dlv say absolutely nothing about expiration dates. Very interesting info caperjack, thanks for pointing this out! Hmmmm.....now I wonder if I go to like the day before 10532 is supposed to expire, what would happen if I did slmgr /rearm?
Last edited by NavyLCDR; 01 Sep 2015 at 20:21.
I said I'd not post again but came across a very clear explanation that should answer all the doubts. It is at Microsoft quietly rewrites its activation rules for Windows 10 | ZDNet
Here are few extracts but you need to read the whole thing really.
Microsoft dramatically changed the rules of product activation with Windows 10. Most people will no longer have to deal with product keys; the activation status for a device is stored in the cloud, making activation automatic even after a clean install. In the long term, this is going to be a huge usability success, although it's going to confound anyone who doesn't understand that Microsoft's one-year, free Windows upgrade offer requires that you actually, you know, upgrade.Windows product keys are almost (but not quite) a thing of the past.
With Windows 10, Microsoft has rewritten the rules for how it performs product activation on retail upgrades of Windows, including the free upgrades available for a year beginning on July 29, 2015. The net result is that clean installs will be much easier--but only after you get past the first oneJust note that retail and OEM are DIFFERENT. Tech preview users may also be in a different scenario. Hope this clarifies things (ha!).OEM activation hasn't changed, nor have the procedures for activating volume license copies. But the massive Get Windows 10 upgrade push means that for the near future at least those retail upgrade scenarios are very important.
The biggest change of all is that the Windows 10 activation status for a device is stored online. After you successfully activate Windows 10 for the first time, that device will activate automatically in the future, with no product key required.